


The Furry Little Reveals

by pineappleyogurt (musicforlife101)



Series: Marauders Era Wolfstar Headcanon [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Animagus, Early Hogwarts, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, MWPP, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Panic Attacks, Pre-Relationship, Werewolf Reveal, mostly comfort, very mild angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-03-13 07:03:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18935845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicforlife101/pseuds/pineappleyogurt
Summary: Two vital reveals in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, handled with varying levels of skill.1. In which the boys figure out lycanthropy, and James is bad at wording things.2. In which Sirius is volunteered to reveal their Animagery and does an arguably better job.***First in my short series of Marauders Era Wolfstar headcanon, which will be used as background for any of my canon-divergent ficsCan be read as a standalone





	1. The Furry Little Problem

**Author's Note:**

> So, I slipped and fell into the quicksand that is Wolfstar. I wrote probably 100k in different fics over the course of a few weeks and I'll be posting some of that over the course of this summer. I'm starting here, not with the first things I wrote (actually some of the last), but chronologically first. This short series is my working headcanon for Marauders Era Wolfstar and Jily that feeds into the longer canon-divergent fics I've been working on.
> 
> I've not written in this fandom before now. A while back I found a text post that summed it up rather well: I don't blog about HP because it would be like blogging about having feet. Perhaps that's why I've only lurked in the fandom on Ao3 in periodic bursts until now.

Sirius had been suspicious of Remus’s monthly absences since the middle of first year. That was when the excuses had started to ring false to him, which was probably because he’d had to come up with or confirm plenty of excuses for his own absence from events and his health and his lack of sleep due to nightmares. The nightmare excuses he still trotted out, but the others had been unnecessary while he was at school. His parents couldn’t hurt him here. And despite his scars, it didn’t seem like Remus’s parents were awful to him at home. He was delighted to get letters from his mother. Less delighted about the infrequent letters from his father, but not upset. Not frightened.

By the time Sirius worked out that they were _monthly_ absences — mid-conversation with James about it — it was the end of term.

They all wrote over the summer. Sirius asked after Remus’s health possibly more often than he ever would with the others.

When they all got back for second year, Sirius began the top secret mission: Why Is Remus Ill?

He told James and Peter about the plan, but Peter was less committed to marking down dates and symptoms than Sirius or even James.

They were up in the dorm one late September night. Remus was gone on his monthly absence. And Sirius was multitasking. Both researching Remus’s possible ailments and doing homework. Specifically Astronomy homework. James and Peter were going over a Herbology essay when Sirius had his epiphany.

“Bloody hell, it’s the full moon.”

“Uh yeah, Sirius. Has been all night,” James said.

“No, every night Remus is gone it’s the full moon,” Sirius said. “We should check a book about werewolves just to be sure, but the Black family’s hatred can be quite educational at times. I know the signs and Remus has them.”

“Like what?” Peter asked. They hadn’t studied werewolves in Defense yet, not to mention their useless teacher.

“Well, he’s gone every full moon, that would be when he transforms. He’s always tired and achy when he gets back. He has injuries and scars that aren’t healed by magic. And he definitely has a better sense of smell that we do. Remember the toilet incident?” Peter and James’s noses wrinkled at that, but they nodded.

“So, Remus is a werewolf?” James wondered aloud.

“Isn’t he...dangerous?” Peter asked.

Sirius shot him a look. “If we walked into wherever he is right now, yeah, sure. But not any other time. He’s just a person, Pete.”

“And once a month he isn’t,” Peter said, defensive.

“Peter, you know Remus,” Sirius sighed. “If he ever hurt someone while he was transformed he’d be devastated. It’s not like it’s something he can control.”

Peter bit his lip. “Yeah, you’re right, he wouldn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“So, should we tell him we know?” James asked. “It must be hard keeping it a secret.”

Sirius nodded. “We need to think about how to tell him. It’s Remus, we need to make sure he knows he’s still our friend.”

“You think he’d be worried about that?”

Oh James, such an extrovert, always had friends. Sirius stopped himself thinking unkindly about his best friend. He didn’t know what it was like, was all. Not his fault. Sirius just understood Remus in a different way than the others. He understood the fear of rejection and alienation he’d seen in Remus’s eyes early last year, before he realized they weren’t going to give up on being his friend.

“Yeah James, I think it’s probably why he hasn’t had a lot of friends before,” Sirius said. “We just have to make it clear that we don’t care about his condition. We care about him.”

With homework and classes, they didn’t have much time to discuss how to broach the topic until Remus was gone on his next full moon. That night, they sat up in their dorm room and Sirius found himself moderating the discussion. It was not his usual or preferred role, but his knee-jerk reaction to protect Remus wouldn’t allow anyone else to lead.

“We could go visit him in the hospital wing tomorrow,” James suggested.

“Uhh,” Sirius trailed off. “I’m not sure about that. He probably won’t be feeling well tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah,” James said. “We should wait then.”

“Next week,” Peter suggested, “when he’s back from the library.” Sirius nodded and they started discussing various ways to approach the conversation. Remus could be kind of jumpy, so the least stressful opening was what Sirius was aiming for.

Thursday evening, a week after the full moon, James, Sirius, and Peter waited in their pyjamas on their beds until Remus finished changing in the bathroom. He sat down on his bed and noticed his friends looking at him.

“What’s wrong?” Remus asked. Sirius watched closely, seeing his muscles tense.

“Nothing, we just wanted to talk to you about something,” James said. Sirius held back a groan. James had no idea how ominous that sounded when you had a secret.

Remus swallowed. “Uhm, okay. Is, is it, a, a prank?”

James and Peter shook their heads. “No, we just noticed that you’re ill every month,” James said.

Sirius did sigh this time and went to sit on Remus’s bed. He moved slowly so as not to startle his friend.

“It’s okay, Rem,” Sirius said. “Promise.” Remus shook his head helplessly. “We know you have lycanthropy.” It was his idea to use the more technical term. It sounded less harsh than calling their friend a werewolf.

Tears spilled onto Remus’s cheeks. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, voice choked.

“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault,” James said, voice gentle and approaching the bed very slowly.

Sirius touched Remus’s arm where he’d wrapped it around himself. Remus warbled out another apology. Then another and another. His breathing was starting to get wonky and he didn’t seem to be hearing them. Sirius scooted forward and wrapped his fingers around Remus’s hand. Remus squeezed reflexively.

“I’m sorry. I’ll go. I’ll leave. Don’t hurt me. Please, please,” Remus babbled.

“Oh Rem,” Sirius breathed. He hauled Remus half into his lap and wrapped his arms around him. Not so tightly as to trap him, but enough to ground him. He was floating away and Sirius needed him to listen. “We won’t hurt you. You’re our friend. We love you.” He repeated this mantra until Remus’s tears began to slow and his breathing steadied. “We’re not gonna leave you, Rem. We love you. We’re gonna protect you, I promise.”

Remus let out a shuddering breath against Sirius’s neck. “You’re not...scared?”

“Not of you,” James said.

“We’re only scared _for_ you,” Sirius said.

Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius’s shoulders. “Thank you. I, I don’t deserve—”

“Shush now, you deserve friends that love you,” Sirius said.

“I was only five,” Remus whispered against Sirius’s neck, but they could all hear him. “When I was bitten.”

“Then it’s _really_ not your fault, mate,” James said. Peter nodded.

“It’s late, Rem,” Sirius said. “Let’s lay down so you can sleep.” They shuffled around, Remus still clinging to Sirius. Remus was just a little smaller than Sirius, but he curled into his friend, tucking his face into the crook of his neck. Sirius rubbed slow circles on Remus’s back. “You’re stuck with us, Rem. We’re Marauders, remember?” Remus hummed in the affirmative. “Sleep, we’ll be here when you wake up.”

Remus breathed, “Thank you,” against Sirius’s neck. He was asleep moments later and Sirius held him until morning.

 


	2. The Furry Little Solution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius is nominated (well, he volunteered) to tell Remus they had all become animagi. It goes much better than discovering his furry little problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had conceived of these as two separate parts, but I'm impatient, so you get them all on the same day!
> 
> Enjoy!

_October 1974_

It had been a bad full. Remus had spent the whole previous day in the Hospital Wing, his friends traipsing in and out, Sirius sneaking him chocolates. Even stuck in his bed in Gryffindor tower, laid up with new scars and aches like growing pains in every bone, Remus considered himself lucky. His friends had known two years now and they didn’t hate him. He still remembered Sirius pulling him into his lap and holding him until he stopped panicking and started believing that his friends would never hurt him or leave him. They’d visited him after every full, took notes for him. They’d written to him all summer, Sirius going so far as to send chocolate after every full. Their love and support were a comfort after the full, when he hurt everywhere and all he wanted was sleep.

Remus was just making peace with not getting anymore sleep when the door opened. He looked over. No one seemed to be there. A clicking noise approached him and then a mass of black fluff landed on the bed with him.

“Wha—?!” He felt a cold, wet nose. Had James and Sirius somehow smuggled a dog into the tower? It nuzzled into his chest. Without hesitation, Remus dug his fingers into the warm fur, scritching along its shoulders and neck and ears. The dog whuffed happily and started licking his neck. It’s tongue slid over his chin, his ears, his face. Remus laughed, pulling his face away. The dog licked his neck one last time, then settled its head on Remus’s chest.

“I don’t know how James and Sirius snuck you in, but I’m glad they did,” he whispered into the dog’s fur.

A minute later, bones began shifting under the dog’s skin. Almost like—but it wasn’t the full. A moment later, there was still a mass of black hair on Remus’s chest, but it was Sirius instead of a dog. His arms wrapped around Remus and held him close. Gently, ever mindful of his injuries.

“What? Siri?”

Sirius propped his chin up on Remus’s chest. “Hi Rem.”

“You’re...but you were...did you, did you become an animagus?”

“Yeah, been workin’ on it. Now you don’t have to be alone on the full.”

Remus stared. “What?”

“Well, the wolf is only aggressive towards humans, and if I’m not human then I can be with you on the full. We can all be with you. James and Peter did it too.” Remus stared some more. “I wanted to tell you and they agreed. Obviously I’m a dog, wanna know what they are?” Remus nodded dumbly, even though he wasn’t sure how he felt about this at all. “A stag and a rat. One guess which is which.” Sirius grinned.

Remus gaped at him. “Sirius, that’s really advanced, dangerous transfiguration! Fuck, you didn’t even have a teacher helping you. What if it went wrong?”

Sirius settled more onto Remus’s chest. “The actual transfiguration isn’t that tough. Leaving the damn mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month was the worst part, actually. Peter kept fucking it up and had to start over. We finished that part at the start of term. The potion was a little tricky, but James and I handled it. The rest is mostly timing and reciting words and a little clever transfiguration.” Remus was still staring. “You know, the students at Uagadou School of Magic become animagi around our age usually. We did a lot of research, Rem, we’ve been working on it since we figured out your secret.”

_Two years._  They'd been working on this for two years. All for him.

“You did all that for me?” Remus asked, tears gathering in his lashes.

“Of course we did, Moony. We love you.” Remus blinked, sending tears out the corners of his eyes, falling into his ears and onto his pillow. He paid them no mind. “I hate seeing how you hurt yourself during the full. Now you’ll have us, maybe the wolf won’t try to hurt you as much.”

Remus hugged him tighter. “Thank you. I can’t believe you did this for me. I don’t deserve this.”

“You deserve it more than anyone I know, Moony,” Sirius said. Remus didn’t agree, but he didn’t argue.

“Just promise me something, Siri.” Sirius nodded for him to go on. “If I hurt you, you have to leave, promise you won’t let me hurt you. I couldn’t live with that.”

“You’re not going to, but I promise. We won’t let you hurt anyone.” Remus nodded, trying to settle his fluttering heart. They lay curled together on Remus’s bed, comfortable and warm, Sirius’s head pillowed on Remus’s chest.

Long minutes later, Remus furrowed his brows. “Wait, Sirius, you were just licking me!”

Sirius propped his chin up again, teasing smiled belied by the pink tinge to his cheeks. “Doggy kisses!” he said. “Just showering you with doggy affection, Moonbeam!” Remus tamped down his smile. "On the next full  _you_ can lick  _me_!"

“You’re barmy,” Remus said, too affectionate to mean it. Sirius grinned, canine and joyful. Remus squeezed him tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Fun fact: I wrote this chapter before the previous one, because chronology is an illusion.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you'll join me for more Wolfstar soon!


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